Easter is not the easiest holiday to keep up with, what with hopping back and forth from March to April. Unlike Christmas and Valentine’s Day, Easter is what’s known as “a moveable feast” because its date changes year to year, and it’s a fairly early one in 2026—April 5.
But, why does Easter change dates every year? We’re so glad you asked.
Why Easter’s Date Changes—and Where It Lands in 2026
Easter’s exact date varies so much because it depends on the moon. The holiday is set to coincide with the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
So, to figure Easter’s date, you need to start with the vernal equinox—that fleeting moment when the sun aligns with our equator at the start of spring. The equinox occurs on March 19, 20, or 21 (it's March 20 in 2026). Depending on how the full moon calendar lines up with this date, Easter can occur any Sunday between March 22 and April 25. That’s a pretty wide range!
In 2026, Easter falls on Sunday, April 5, following the Paschal Full Moon on April 1. That puts the holiday about two weeks earlier than it fell last year, when we celebrated on April 20. This is par for the course. Looking ahead to 2027, you can go ahead and mark your calendar for Easter Sunday on March 28.
Why Is Easter After the Paschal Full Moon?
Now, you may be wondering, what’s the significance of the Paschal Full Moon in all of this? For that, look to Easter’s historical connection to the Jewish holiday of Passover. It’s right there in the word paschal, which can mean “of or relating to Easter” or “of or relating to Passover,” according to Merriam-Webster.
On the Hebrew calendar, Passover begins at sundown at the start of the 15th day of the lunar month of Nisan, coinciding with the vernal full moon. In all four books of the Gospel in the New Testament, Jesus died on a Friday associated with Passover. In Mark, Matthew, and Luke, it was the actual day of Passover, following the Seder feast the evening before. In John, Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation leading up to the Seder feast.
In early Christianity, the celebration of Easter (or Pasha in Greek) varied depending on the church. Some celebrated the day of Jesus’s resurrection on the Sunday after Passover, while others marked the holiday on the same day as Passover, observing the day of Jesus’s sacrifice, writes New Testament scholar John Fotopoulos, PhD, for Public Orthodoxy.
In those days, the timing of Passover often varied from community to community. That’s because every two to three years, the Hebrew calendar needed a 13th lunar month added, but word of the additional month did not always reach every locale, causing calendars to drift off season, according to Fotopoulos. Since Christians were timing their Easter observances based on local observances of Passover, the timing of Easter also varied based on locale, sometimes even happening twice in a solar year.
In 325, the Council of Nicaea endeavored to do away with the discrepancies across Christian communities by setting Easter’s date as the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, an annual astronomical event. The historical connection to the vernal full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) remained, but the formula for determining Easter’s date was no longer tied to the Hebrew calendar.
Easter Sets the Date for Ash Wednesday and the Rest of Lent
The date of Easter also determines the dates for Lent, as well as all the holy days within the 40 days of reflection and sacrifice that lead up to Easter. Observed on February 18 in 2026, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and is always exactly 46 days before Easter (that’s 40 days of Lent, in observance of Jesus’s time in the desert, plus six, as each Sunday is skipped). Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, exactly one week before Easter. The week includes Holy Wednesday, the day Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus; Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper; and Good Friday, the day of Jesus’s crucifixion. That Sunday, Easter marks the end of Lent.
Terri Robertson has been an editor and storyteller for more than 20 years. As Deputy Digital Editor at Country Living, she curates daily newsletters and has found a niche writing about odd corners of the internet and people embracing American life off the beaten path. She’s passionate about gardening and nature, writing about everything from super monarchs to supermoons. She also contributes to Country Living’s entertainment coverage, including HGTV stars, popular TV shows, and music. Terri began her career proofreading Southern Living cookbooks—a first job befitting an English major with a childhood penchant for reading her mom’s cookbooks—and went on to edit many food, garden, and lifestyle titles. She later worked for the University of Alabama’s marketing and communications division, capturing the stories of students and faculty. Returning to lifestyle media in 2017, she covered local arts, culture, and business news in Birmingham, Alabama, for Bham Now and later served as digital media manager for Flower magazine, a luxury home, garden, and lifestyle publication, before finding her home at Country Living. She and her husband live with their four cats in Birmingham.
